Barangaroo’s $6bn proposal green lit

Lend Lease
has secured NSW government approval for its contentious $6 billion proposal for the southern section of the Barangaroo urban renewal project in Sydney.

The approval includes several controversial new elements, including a 250-room hotel on an 85-metre pier in the harbour.

Lend Lease has also confirmed that major accounting firm PwC is one of the first tenants to have signed on at the project.

Lend Lease managing director
Steve McCann
said the firm was one of three major tenants with heads of agreement over a lease at one of the commercial towers and said Lend Lease had received inquiries from six leading Australian firms about Barangaroo space.

Australia’s four biggest accounting firms are all considering taking space in the waterfront development.

More information about commercial tenants and investors in the project would be available in the first half of 2011, Mr McCann said.

Lend Lease had tweaked its plans for Barangaroo, following public comment, changing the layout of walkways through the site and altering one of the commercial towers to lessen its impact on the water views of residents behind the project.

The development will now include about 490,000 square metres of floor space, with three commercial towers, residential space, three ferry piers, a pedestrian walkway from Wynyard Station and light rail line.

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Lend Lease is required to get individual development approvals for the buildings included in the plan.

Site works have already been approved and plans for the first ­commercial tower are on display for public comment.

Mr McCann said yesterday it had been a “long and robust" approvals process and he was pleased the company could now proceed with confidence. Australian economic and leasing conditions were even better than when they bid on the project, he said.

It was too early to discuss a potential operator for the hotel but it would be a world-class, luxury offering.

The diversified property group’s share price surged after the announcement, closing up on the day at $8.40.

NSW Planning Minister
Tony Kelly
defended the government’s decision to allow the pier and hotel over Sydney Harbour, noting several other projects were over the water.

Premier
Kristina Keneally
de­scribed the architecture included in the development, which has been criticised by community groups, as “striking and impressive".

She said the development would cement Sydney’s position as Australia’s only truly global city and as a financial services centre in the Asia-Pacific region.

NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge said the approval was a “disgraceful act" by a dying government.

“The National Trust, Planning Institute, Institute of Architects and City of Sydney are all opposed to Lend Lease’s plans for Barangaroo,’’ he said.

Lobby group Alliance for NSW Future said the approval would help restore investor confidence in NSW.